Jim Read has a good run of lambs

A wise farmer down the road once said to me that lambing is like banging your head against a brick wall; it feels good when you stop.

How true is that. We must have had every problem known to man and sheep this year, but thankfully no sign of the Schmallenberg virus. We have even had a black ewe that normally has two black lambs refuse to accept a white lamb she gave birth to; not even a couple of days in the adopter would work. Racism, I see, even exists in the sheep world.

As for the weather, we are up to the guts in water and can’t move with the sprayer or fertiliser spreader, but still under a hosepipe ban. I can’t complain though, we have never had such a good fall of lambs. I also have the comfort of a straw-filled shed that I can bring my ewes into at night to lamb, unlike some of my fellow farmers who have not got that privilege. We have invested in a shepherdess bucket this year as we take triplets off their mother after 24 hours; it has saved no end of work.

I have held off selling Jim, my young dog, as he is such a useful lambing dog, catching sheep etc, and he also knows to keep out of that ewe protection zone when gathering, whereas a lot of dogs cannot wait to invade. I wonder if Jim and myself will ever part company.

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